


I Can't Sleep (I'm Always Looking for You)

by stripedpetunia (waketosleep)



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Cuddling and Snuggling, Hurt/Comfort, Insomnia, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-20
Updated: 2011-06-20
Packaged: 2017-10-20 14:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/213521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waketosleep/pseuds/stripedpetunia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex thinks everything should be fine now that Darwin is alive and whole and at the mansion with him, but suddenly he's having trouble sleeping at night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can't Sleep (I'm Always Looking for You)

**Author's Note:**

> Posted originally to the kink meme, but this fic is sort-of-kind-of a follow-up to my earlier fic called The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. The title of this one is from a Sloan song of the same name.
> 
> Meme prompt: "After Darwin returns, everything is rainbows and sunshine for Alex and Darwin. Except for the fact that Alex now can no longer sleep without Darwin in the room. Of course Alex is far too manly, aka stubborn to actually mention this fact, which leads him to falling asleep in the most random situations with Darwin in the room.
> 
> Eventually Dawrin gets it and takes him to bed and cuddles with him."

_"You're here."_

 _"I'm here."_

 _"You're staying?"_

 _"I'm staying. A house this nice? You won't get me to leave until you carry me out in a box."_

 _"Somehow I don't see that happening."_

 _"Yeah. Maybe not."_

Darwin was alive and he was home at the mansion. He'd come back and at the sight of him a little broken piece of Alex had been restored, one he hadn't even noticed was missing until it returned. And Darwin had hugged Alex and smiled at him like maybe the same thing had happened to him, and it was like... like Christmas wrapped up in birthdays and the best day of Alex's life, and he should have been happy and relaxed right now.

Alex punched his pillow some more and shifted around in his bed, trying to find a position where he'd fall asleep.

***

"You look rough," said Sean over breakfast; Alex waved him off and dropped some bread in the toaster, feeling a little more human when Darwin shuffled into the kitchen and clapped him on the shoulder on the way to the fridge.

"Sometimes I have trouble sleeping," he said as he sat at the table.

"Bad dreams?" asked Professor X from behind the paper.

"Yeah," he said, because sure, why not. He'd spent a long time in prison. "I still have lots of those."

***

"Wake up."

Alex stirred, frowning with his eyes still shut as someone shook his shoulder. "What?" he asked, rubbing at his eyes before opening them.

"You passed right out," said Darwin, upside-down in his field of vision. Alex blinked and sat up on the grass, peering around in the sun. Didn't seem like much time had passed; Darwin's Physics textbook was still open to the chapter on light.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

Darwin shrugged. "The sun's warm. It's nice."

"Yeah." Alex tilted his face up to it as Darwin turned a page. He felt warm all over.

***

The next time he fell asleep was two days later, in the TV room while Darwin watched the baseball game broadcast.

"Check out that fastball on Stan Williams," said Darwin.

"Mm," said Alex. The sofa was really comfortable.

The drone of the TV lulled him and the next thing he knew, he was being nudged. He blinked and realized the warm, soft thing he was leaning hard into was Darwin.

He sat up pretty fast, alert with embarrassment. "Um."

The look on Darwin's face was concerned but not offended. "Man, are you sleeping at night?"

"What kind of silly question is that?" Alex bluffed.

"Oh, nothing, I just thought that after being in prison a man could sleep anywhere, and we've all got feather beds here." He paused. "You're not allergic to feathers?"

"No," said Alex, "definitely not." He stood up. "Look, I'm gonna," he said vaguely, gesturing at the door before escaping from the concerned look. Maybe he'd go stare at the ceiling in his room for a while, hope that the problem was just that he was nocturnal now and could only sleep in the afternoon. Somehow he doubted that was true, though.

***

The truth was that besides the occasional nightmare, Alex really was pretty lax about where and how he slept, and he'd been sleeping alright at the mansion until Darwin had come back. Now whenever he went to bed in his room, alone, he lay there stewing in anxiety until the light through his curtains turned gray in the morning and he dragged himself up for another sluggish day. For two weeks he'd been twitchy without sleep and only seemed to really drop everything and relax when he was with Darwin and it was quiet.

But Darwin wasn't his damn teddy bear and they were both adults, and Alex figured that eventually he'd have to get so tired that he'd start sleeping at night again. Problem solved. He just had to wait it out.

Until the day he and Darwin and Sean sat around the long, ridiculous dining room table to write a science exam for their high school equivalencies (Professor X presiding telepathically from his study) and Alex fell asleep right at the table in the middle of a question about acid-base reactions.

The meeting with Professor X afterward was uncomfortable, Alex sitting quietly across from the big oak desk in the study with ink still on his face while the professor just stared at him.

"Work it out," said the professor after a while.

"Yes, sir," said Alex, mortified.

But he wasn't going to work it out without out-stubborning his own problem. Alex was pretty sure he was up to that task, though; it was going to be fine.

***

Another two restless nights later, Alex was doing math on the dark ceiling in his head (counting sheep got boring fast) when someone knocked on his door.

He sat up and turned on the lamp, glaring suspiciously at the door.

"Yeah?"

The door opened and Darwin poked his head in.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked immediately. It was one o'clock in the morning.

"You tell me," said Darwin as he shut the door behind him.

"I was sleeping!"

"The hell you were. Look, Professor X asked me to try and get you to tell me what's wrong. Your insomnia thing is turning into a problem."

"So this is you, suavely trying to get me to tell you what's the matter?"

"Nope." Darwin sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm not a big fan of talking. I just like to solve problems."

Alex realized Darwin was toeing off his shoes. "Uh."

"Budge over."

Alex let himself be shooed to one side of the bed; he had no idea what was happening even when Darwin reached over and shut off the lamp.

"What--" he started when Darwin manhandled him onto his side and settled close behind him. He put up a token resistance out of a mix of shock and the grasp for dignity but really, Darwin was warm and all of the muscles in Alex's back seemed to have relaxed at the same time.

"Shut up," said Darwin, throwing an arm over Alex's middle. "Go to sleep and maybe next time you can be the big spoon."

Alex's brain caught on 'next time' and the press of Darwin's knee against the back of his through the blankets. "You're... okay with this?" he couldn't help asking.

"I could get used to this," said Darwin lazily.

Alex rolled his eyes at that. "I bet you think you're funny," he said, finally letting his whole body relax and sighing under his breath as the tension oozed out of him.

Darwin just smiled; Alex could feel it pressing against the back of his neck.

"Thanks," he managed to breathe out. His limbs all felt so heavy.

 

THE END


End file.
